Are MDR items "better" in Luminae?

[cl.klink]

I know you can order items while in Lumniae. My question is, are they prepared differently or somehow better? Or is it the same item, taken from the same inventory, on the same plate, etc?

 

- Joel

[Ma Bell]

It's the same.

[jagoffee]

It's the same.

I agree it is the same food that is prepared in the MDR kitchen. I do not recall if they transfer the food to a different plate.

[CEOofVacation]

Same food but you can customize it in anyway you want it. For instance I want gluten free pasta instead of whatever they have on the dish. I never liked the mushy mashed potatoes that they served at the bottom of the dish. I would ask them to skip that and replace with something else on the side.

[iamaqt2]

Same food but you can customize it in anyway you want it. For instance I want gluten free pasta instead of whatever they have on the dish. I never liked the mushy mashed potatoes that they served at the bottom of the dish. I would ask them to skip that and replace with something else on the side.

 

You can do that in the main dining room too. Sometimes it's hit or miss whether it actually happens though.

[Host Jazzbeau]

The galleys are adjacent, so your waiter picks up the Luminae orders at one window and the MDR items at the next. The real benefit is more than doubling the number of choices for Luminae.

[Jim_Iain]

We ordered from main menu items almost daily on our 30 day B2B on Infinity.

 

They were always presented on Luminea dishes and sometimes dressed up a little. It helped to keep the menu from getting too repetitious.

 

We sailed with friend that love curried dishes. They hand one presented each night in addition to the normal orders. The chief kept it varied.

 

 

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[Mynki]

We ordered from main menu items almost daily on our 30 day B2B on Infinity.

 

They were always presented on Luminea dishes and sometimes dressed up a little. It helped to keep the menu from getting too repetitious.

 

We sailed with friend that love curried dishes. They hand one presented each night in addition to the normal orders. The chief kept it varied.

 

 

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In my experience the Luminae team will make you off menu dishes if you ask nicely and if you give them sufficient notice which helps with not getting bored.

[colliercruiser]

I know you can order items while in Lumniae. My question is, are they prepared differently or somehow better? Or is it the same item, taken from the same inventory, on the same plate, etc?

 

 

 

- Joel

 

 

My understanding is that an entree requested from the MDR menu in Luminae is picked up at the MDR’s galley but re-plated in the Luminae galley... for a more uniform presentation at the table.

 

 

 

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[CEOofVacation]

We told Shiv, our wonderful server on Reflection at Luminae, that I liked curry chicken with rice. The following night I had curry chicken served with rice.. ;)

[kenevenpar]

Doesn't Luminae use a rotating 14 day menu?

[colliercruiser]

Doesn't Luminae use a rotating 14 day menu?

 

 

I thought it was a 10-day rotation, but not positive. We only had repeats on our 14-day cruises.

 

 

 

 

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[Schmoe38]

I know you can order items while in Lumniae. My question is, are they prepared differently or somehow better? Or is it the same item, taken from the same inventory, on the same plate, etc?

 

 

 

- Joel

 

 

 

We just returned from our cruise on Eclipse. We were in a suite and ate in Luminae. There were times when we ordered from the main menu (I ordered French onion soup almost every night). The temperature of the soup was always hot and this was attributable to the level of service from the wait staff in Luminae in moving the dishes from kitchen to table.

 

My wife has an allergy to the protein in seafood and does not eat red meat. She ordered off the MDR menu on a couple of occasions and was able to request specific “tweaks” to the traditional menu item with no problem.

 

I have no specific allergies or preferences so was able to order all entrees off the Luminae menu.

 

Randy

 

 

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[cl.klink]

Thanks for these useful replies.

- Joel

[BosoxI]

Doesn't Luminae use a rotating 14 day menu?

 

I don't know but our menu was quite repetitious on our recent 11-day cruise and I wound up ordering from the MDR menu more than once. We had tuna as a main course two nights running, for example and pappardelle appeared twice in the evening and at least once on a luncheon menu.

[AZNative2000]

The galleys are adjacent, so your waiter picks up the Luminae orders at one window and the MDR items at the next. The real benefit is more than doubling the number of choices for Luminae.

 

We just returned from our cruise on Eclipse. We were in a suite and ate in Luminae. There were times when we ordered from the main menu (I ordered French onion soup almost every night). The temperature of the soup was always hot and this was attributable to the level of service from the wait staff in Luminae in moving the dishes from kitchen to table.

Whatever menu choice you make, the difference in Luminae is not only the variety and the choices, but the service and ambiance attributable to the staff and the smaller number of tables they serve. They have the time to take care of your special requests. One night, my DW asked the maitre d' if they ever have ratatouille as it is not on the menu ... next night SHE had ratatouille.

 

Like Schmoe38, I love the French onion soup and had it as my meal more than once. My waiter was concerned that I wasn't getting enough to eat. "JUST SOUP", he asked, in amazement. I assured him it was perfect.

 

So, to the OP ... yes the MDR items are better in Luminae for many reasons.

 

Cheers!

[CEOofVacation]

Service in Luminae is certainly superior to MDR, although we were happy eating in MDR as well.

[Gonzo70]

I thought it was a 10-day rotation, but not positive. We only had repeats on our 14-day cruises.

 

 

 

 

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Luminae has 14 distinct dinner menus and 6 distinct lunch menus.

[jelayne]

Luminae has 14 distinct dinner menus and 6 distinct lunch menus.

 

Glad to hear there are now 6 lunch menus, we were on the Infinity in Vebruary & there were only 3 lunch menus.

[Ken the cruiser]

Please tell me there are 2 menus offered in the Luminae, one being theirs and the other being from the MDR. We just got off a 25 day Eclipse B2B and would always wish we had a suite so we could eat there instead of the MDR.

 

One big reason is that my DW loves chocolate and there were usually 2 chocolate desserts offered in the Luminae every night as well as on their lunch menus while the MDR had one every 3 or 4 nights, other than their classic chocolate layer cake, and rarely on their lunch menus. Plus, the entrees always looked a lot better on the Luminae menu.

 

Because of this as well as being able to capitalize on the other perks, we have since booked two B2B cruises in Sky Suites. Please tell me our eyes weren't deceiving us and there is in fact a Luminae menu that is different every night (and lunch) from the MDR menu.

[Northern Aurora]

Glad to hear there are now 6 lunch menus, we were on the Infinity in Vebruary & there were only 3 lunch menus.

 

 

Love the idea of a month named "Vebruary" -- just sounds so nice and rather wintery.

 

Luminae definitely has a 14 night dinner menu rotation. And the expanded lunch menu was rolled out this past spring. We spent 30 nights on the Infinity in April (into May), and the new lunch menus were being discussed. We spent 14 nights on the Millennium in July; it was a port intensive cruise but we did enjoy some of the new Luminae lunch menus. But we spent 34 nights on the Summit last fall, and so did experience all of the Luminae lunch menus.

 

But to respond to the OP's question as to whether the MDR offerings are "better" when served in Luminae --- I don't think so. But I have no problem with the actual food in the MDR -- just the noise level and lower wait-staff to passenger ratio. I also have absolutely no problem with the new Blu menu, and now that my husband and I have the black sea pass cards we will be booking many more cruises in Aqua. Since our loyalty level provides us with the premium beverage package and unlimited internet I have no interest in receiving those perks in the "bundled" X's suite pricing strategy.

[XtaSea]

Please tell me there are 2 menus offered in the Luminae, one being theirs and the other being from the MDR. We just got off a 25 day Eclipse B2B and would always wish we had a suite so we could eat there instead of the MDR.

 

One big reason is that my DW loves chocolate and there were usually 2 chocolate desserts offered in the Luminae every night as well as on their lunch menus while the MDR had one every 3 or 4 nights, other than their classic chocolate layer cake, and rarely on their lunch menus. Plus, the entrees always looked a lot better on the Luminae menu.

 

Because of this as well as being able to capitalize on the other perks, we have since booked two B2B cruises in Sky Suites. Please tell me our eyes weren't deceiving us and there is in fact a Luminae menu that is different every night (and lunch) from the MDR menu.

 

Luminae does indeed have separate menus and, I believe, the food is significantly better than the MDR. In fact we've stopped using specialty restaurants since we find Luminae equal or better. Having the MDR menu available allows us to augment our Luminae meals with French onion soup, escargot, etc. Plus a suite also gives us Michael's Club, which we enjoy for a quiet pre-dinner drink.

 

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[Ken the cruiser]

Luminae does indeed have separate menus and, I believe, the food is significantly better than the MDR. In fact we've stopped using specialty restaurants since we find Luminae equal or better. Having the MDR menu available allows us to augment our Luminae meals with French onion soup, escargot, etc. Plus a suite also gives us Michael's Club, which we enjoy for a quiet pre-dinner drink.

 

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Cool! I thought that might be the case. I just got a little confused. Thanks for keeping me straight!